


bodies in the orchard

by Rethira



Category: Tales of Xillia
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-19
Updated: 2013-10-19
Packaged: 2017-12-29 20:35:56
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,241
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1009806
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rethira/pseuds/Rethira
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Alvin dreams.</p>
            </blockquote>





	bodies in the orchard

**Author's Note:**

> spoilers for Jude's side

in alvin’s nightmares there are two bodies in the orchard instead of just one

 

He wakes up with a start – immediately reaching out, hands searching blindly in the dark. His hand touches bare flesh and the knot in Alvin’s stomach loosens. He rolls closer, wrapping his arms around Jude’s sleeping form. Jude stirs only a little, murmuring in his sleep before his breathing evens out again. Alvin tucks his head against the back of Jude’s neck and scrunches his eyes shut. He listens to Jude breathe; after a while, Alvin finds himself breathing in time with Jude.

When he falls asleep again, he doesn’t dream.

 

the first time alvin killed a person he threw up right after and uncle gilland had smacked him and said “clean it up” and left him to drag the body to the incinerator and scrub the blood and vomit off the floor

 

Alvin has to fight his way through protestors. Not literally – they’re not stupid enough to do that, not with the sword Alvin has strapped to his back – but the throng of people is thick enough that it’s a battle nonetheless. It’s enough to get Alvin antsy; he never was good at dealing with crowds, and this is the sort of crowd that makes him _want_ to just swing his sword around, clear some room. People stare and hiss when he breaks free and marches up the stairs. He ignores them and enters the building; Jude’s waiting there for him.

Jude sighs when he looks up and says, “They’ve been there all day.”

Alvin shrugs and murmurs, “People are afraid of things they don’t understand.”

 

“guns do make such a _mess_ ” uncle gilland said as he toed aside the corpse

alvin shook and clutched the still warm gun in his hands and tried not to remember the way the woman had held fire in her hands

 

There are spyrites all over the lab these days; little rabbit like creatures or tiny glimmering birds with fantastically long tails. They’re a delight to see – Alvin likes talking to the kids about their spyrites whenever he has the chance. The kids name them, treat them just like little pets. There’s one little girl who smiles brilliantly and hugs her kitten-spyrite to her chest and says, “They let me off the respirator for the first time last week.”

Jude’s _effervescent_ ; it makes Alvin want to drag him into a kiss, right there in the lobby, in front of the kids and their spyrites. He holds himself back, lets himself just enjoy the look on Jude’s face as he talks softly to the kids with their spyrites.

 

he knows what a head looks like when a bullet goes through it

 

Alvin wakes up to Jude wriggling free of his arms – “You’re a _furnace_ ,” Jude grumbles, “let _go_.” When Alvin eventually relinquishes his hold, Jude promptly turns around and drops a quick kiss on his forehead. “You have work today,” Jude reminds him, laughing softly when Alvin buries his face in the pillow. “I’m making waffles,” Jude continues, and that’s enough to prompt Alvin to roll out of bed.

He wakes Elize up while Jude’s cooking breakfast; kisses him goodbye while Jude has a mouthful of syrupy waffles.

 

he thinks about the noise leia’s body made when she hit the ground; thinks about the noise jude’s body would have made instead

 

Gaius briefly hires him on as a bodyguard; it’s not work Alvin particularly wants to do, but Yurgen insists that they can’t _possibly_ turn down a job from the _King_ , and Alvin thinks he’s going to hyperventilate if Alvin says no.

Gaius is a severe boss, and for a while Alvin can’t figure out _why_ he’s been hired. But then one of the Elympians says that Gaius discriminates against them and Gaius stills and says, “Alvin,” and Alvin pushes himself off the wall he’s been leaning against. “Introduce yourself,” Gaius orders, and when Alvin does he says, “No. Your real name.”

They stare at each other briefly and then Alvin snaps, “Alfred Vint Svent,” and leaves.

 

gilland calls him alfred alfred alfred and he hates it he hates his name he hates it everytime

there’s a body at his feet and gilland says “well done alfred”

“my name is alvin” he mutters under his breath “my name is alvin”

 

The name plate by their door says Mathis-Lutus. Elize says they should put Alvin’s name there as well, but it’s not like Alvin has any surname he’d call his own. In Rieze Maxia, it wasn’t like he really needed one. The government in Auj Oule was so newly unified that they didn’t have a formal census or anything, and the lease on his home there had been under a completely false name in any case.

“Besides,” Alvin says, “I’m happy to call myself Mr Alvin Mathis-Lutus.”

 

they speak around each other in code names; mink alvin presa

she calls him “alfred” once and he says “jill” and that’s it that’s the end

he’s not surprised when she walks out

 

Alvin’s hired to find someone once. It’s not his favourite work, but he’s got connections.

The boy, when he finds him, is half dead. There’s a spyrite grafted into his skin. They both breathe shallowly, boy and spyrite perfectly in sync. When the boy blinks, strange translucent eyelids flick across his eyes outward from his nose. The spyrite croaks weakly, and Alvin cradles the boy in his arms and says, “Blink once if you want me to take you home. Blink twice if you don’t.”

The boy blinks twice.

Alvin tells his family the boy was dead when he got there.

 

gilland doesn’t bother dressing her anymore; when alvin enters the room, his mother is lying naked on gilland’s bed, a glazed look in her eyes

she smiles sleepily and says “have you seen alfred anywhere?”

 

They have two apartments; the one in Fennmont and the one in Trigleph. Elize usually lives in Fennmont, it being closer to her school, and Jude usually lives in Trigleph, it being closer to work. Alvin tries to split his time as evenly as he can, but when it gets down to it, Jude is an adult now and Elize is not. She used to argue, pretty frequently, that Jude was only fifteen when he saved the world – she stops when Alvin points out that none of that involved living by himself.

He gets used to coming home to a dark apartment and a cold bed – the darkness is only temporary and the morning will bring Elize laughing and pancakes cooking on the stove.

 

jude’s eyes are blank as alvin hits him again and again and again

there’s a smile on his face and he says “alvin”

the retort of his gun is so loud in the quiet of the orchard

 

He wakes up and reaches blindly for Jude, drags him against his chest. Alvin tells himself it was just a dream, just a nightmare; Jude rolls over and blinks sleepily. “Alvin?” he murmurs.

“Nothing,” Alvin replies, but Jude’s wise to him by now and holds him close.

“It was just a bad dream,” Jude whispers. “I’m right here.”

 

muzét smiles and says “well done” and drives her hand through alvin’s chest

“you can go home now” she whispers

 

“Let’s move forward, Alvin,” Jude says, holding his hand out, “we’ll live on together.”

 

there’s so much blood

“jude” alvin says “jude wake up”

"please wake up"

**Author's Note:**

> [remix](http://kratosaurioned.tumblr.com/post/77427395630/ill-run-for-drift)

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [your name in salt, my love in marble](https://archiveofourown.org/works/1037616) by [ROSEWAR](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ROSEWAR/pseuds/ROSEWAR)




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